Organics to You - March 22, 2010

Today's box from Organics to You contains:

• spinach
• collards!!
• asparagus
• a yellow onion
• a big leek
• Russet potatoes
• a bunch of cilantro
  
• green leaf lettuce
  
• orange carrots
• 3 Rainer apples
• 3 d'Anjou pears
• 2 Honeygold grapefruit
• 3 Mineola tangerines
• an avocado (looks Haas-like)
  

From last week the fridge still contains:

• 2 artichokes
• Romaine lettuce
• a few carrots
• fingerling potatoes
• Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes)
• an eggplant
  
• several potatoes
  
• a few Chioggia beets
• some garlic
• 3 grapefruit
• 2 Mineola tangerines
  

Christie has been making more smoothies so we have some supplemental produce in the house from New Seasons as well as a treat from the Farmers Market, which opened for the seasons this past Saturday on a gloriously sunny first day of spring!

• Romaine lettuce
• 7 navel oranges
• 6 bananas
• a Haas avocado
• 5 Roma tomatoes
• Brussel sprouts rabe
• parsley
• shallots

The Compost Pail of Shame (what I didn't use and had to compost):

• Spinach (Ugh, two weeks in a row! I mean it is spinach, it isn't that hard to figure out what to do with it!)
  

Last week saw 5 qts & 2 pts of fruit sauce!! With all the kiwis in it (at least a half dozen) the end result looked like freckles in the blondish sauce of pears and apples. I believe some of this will go in the fridge or I'll set up the boiling bath to fully preserve a few of the jars. I did take pictures of this and will post about it. The mix of pears, apples and kiwis is really nice.

I also made a stir fry with asparagus, broccoli and fried tofu. Other quick, easy meals included pasta, veggies & tempeh crumbles over polenta and a hash made with potatoes, onions, broccoli rabe from the Farmers Market served with tempeh bacon. The Bacon avocado was divine and I made raw, sunseed pate from it.

While walking one evening last week a neighbor handed us as a baugette as we passed her place. She does catering had just come home from an event with extras. It meant we ended up with a stale, mostly whole loaf in the house so I experimented with a savory bread pudding that included kale, mirepoix, garlic, fresh parsley, dried herbs in a custard of silken tofu, tahini & cornstarch. It was pretty fabulously good and I will post the recipe.

This week has some trickiness to it since Christie and I have things going on every evening through Wednesday and Thursday we be on a trip. Now, I could leave leftovers for the friends who will be house sitting, but I'm not 100% they'll want them! I do have several dishes I am going to be cooking ahead on Tuesday & Wednesday to take with us, that will use up some of the ingredients.

Cooking for Mom is tricky since she is allergic to some nuts and somewhat soy-sensitive. She's also a bit picky and not entirely adventurous when it comes to food. The menu for the weekend will include:

Marvelous lentil quinoa nut loaf with mashed potatoes & miso shallot gravy (using chickpea miso)
Tostadas with re-fried black beans
Bean soup or perhaps a stir-fry with Aduki beans